Below are 60 Spanish food and restaurant words with their articles, in the Spanish of Spain, with Latin American alternatives where they differ. Learn these five first: el agua (water), el pan (bread), el café (coffee), la cuenta (the bill) and comer (to eat). Then see how real story sentences use them.
- Words
- 60, each with el or la
- Variety
- Spain Spanish, Latin American words noted
- Level
- A1–A2
- Read them in
- Contos stories (chapters 1–2 free)
60 Spanish food words
Nouns are listed with el or la, because the article is part of the word you need to remember. This is the same word pack the Contos web app uses for flashcard review.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| el pan | bread |
| el agua | water |
| el café | coffee |
| el té | tea |
| la leche | milk |
| el zumo | juice |
| el vino | wine |
| la cerveza | beer |
| el arroz | rice |
| la pasta | pasta |
| la carne | meat |
| el pollo | chicken |
| el pescado | fish |
| el huevo | egg |
| el queso | cheese |
| la mantequilla | butter |
| la manzana | apple |
| el plátano | banana |
| la naranja | orange |
| el tomate | tomato |
| la patata | potato |
| la cebolla | onion |
| la zanahoria | carrot |
| el limón | lemon |
| la fresa | strawberry |
| la fruta | fruit |
| la ensalada | salad |
| la sopa | soup |
| el azúcar | sugar |
| la sal | salt |
| la pimienta | pepper |
| la miel | honey |
| la tarta | cake |
| el chocolate | chocolate |
| el helado | ice cream |
| el desayuno | breakfast |
| la comida | lunch |
| la cena | dinner |
| la carta | menu |
| la cuenta | bill |
| el camarero | waiter |
| el restaurante | restaurant |
| la cocina | kitchen |
| el plato | plate |
| el vaso | glass |
| la taza | cup |
| la botella | bottle |
| el cuchillo | knife |
| el tenedor | fork |
| la cuchara | spoon |
| la servilleta | napkin |
| la mesa | table |
| comer | to eat |
| beber | to drink |
| cocinar | to cook |
| pedir | to order |
| pagar | to pay |
| tener hambre | hungry |
| delicioso | delicious |
| dulce | sweet |
El or la? Gender patterns in this list
Most of these nouns follow the basic rule: words ending in -o are masculine (el pollo, el huevo, el vaso, el plato) and words ending in -a are feminine (la manzana, la fresa, la taza, la cerveza). Words ending in -e or a consonant have to be learnt one by one: la leche, la carne and la sal are feminine, while el tomate, el chocolate and el pan are masculine.
Three words that break the pattern
- el agua is feminine. It takes el only because it starts with a stressed a; adjectives stay feminine (el agua fría) and the plural is las aguas.
- el azúcar is usually masculine, but you will also see it feminine (azúcar morena, brown sugar). Both are accepted.
- la miel and la sal end in a consonant but are feminine. Learn them with the article.
Spain or Latin America?
The list uses the words you will hear in Spain. Several food words change across the Atlantic, so if you are learning for Mexico or Argentina, learn the right-hand column too.
| English | Spain | Much of Latin America |
|---|---|---|
| juice | el zumo | el jugo |
| potato | la patata | la papa |
| banana | el plátano | la banana (also el guineo in parts of the Caribbean) |
| cake | la tarta | el pastel or la torta |
| waiter | el camarero | el mesero (Mexico), el mozo (Argentina) |
| strawberry | la fresa | la frutilla (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay) |
| butter | la mantequilla | la manteca (Argentina, Uruguay) |
| menu | la carta | el menú or la carta |
Words that mean something else in a story
A word list gives one meaning per word. Stories show you the others, and three of these food words have a second life in everyday Spanish.
- la carta is the menu in a restaurant, but most of the time it means a letter. Two Contos Spanish series are named after letters: Las Cartas de Martes (The Tuesday Letters) and El Café de las Cartas Perdidas (The Café of Lost Letters).
- la cuenta is the bill, and also a bank account. Cuenta is also a form of contar (to count, to tell), and darse cuenta means to realise.
- sal is salt, but it is also the command form of salir: ¡Sal de ahí! means "Get out of there!"
Pero la carta no tiene firma.Hungry is a noun in Spanish
The list gives tener hambre, "to have hunger", because that is how Spanish says hungry in conversation: tengo hambre. The adjective hambriento is correct, but it sounds literary. The same goes for thirst: tengo sed.
Javi está de acuerdo, pero tiene hambre y quiere pan.Phrases for ordering and eating out
These phrases use words from the list. In a bar or restaurant in Spain, ¿Me pone…? ("Will you give me…?") is the normal way to order and is not rude.
¿Me pone un café con leche, por favor?
Could I have a white coffee, please?
Café con leche is the standard order at breakfast in Spain.
Un vaso de agua, por favor.
A glass of water, please.
Para mí, el pollo con patatas.
The chicken and potatoes for me.
¿Nos trae la cuenta, por favor?
Could you bring us the bill, please?
Está muy rico.
It is really good.
Rico is what people say about food they like; delicioso is a little more formal.
The stories use the same words in ordinary scenes. Here a robot has made dinner, and the menu is a typical Spanish one:
La cena está lista: pollo con patatas.Meet these words in a story: tap any word in a Contos chapter to see what it means, then save it as a flashcard.
Read free in your browserFrequently asked questions
How do you say "the bill, please" in Spanish?
Say "La cuenta, por favor", or more politely "¿Nos trae la cuenta, por favor?" In Spain the waiter usually waits for you to ask, so the bill will not arrive on its own.
Is it el agua or la agua?
El agua. Agua is a feminine noun, but it takes el in the singular because it begins with a stressed a sound. Adjectives stay feminine (el agua fría) and the plural uses las: las aguas.
Is it zumo or jugo?
Zumo in Spain, jugo in most of Latin America. Both mean juice and both are understood everywhere. The same split applies to patata (Spain) and papa (Latin America) for potato.
How do you say "I'm hungry" in Spanish?
Tengo hambre, literally "I have hunger". Hambriento exists, but it sounds like "starving" or belongs in a book. For thirst, say tengo sed.